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We drove from Melbourne
down to Tidal River on Wilson's Promontory. We were a little dismayed
at the national parks fees and the huge numbers of campers that arrived
on Friday night
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Thanks
to members of the Victorian Sea Kayaking Club, John Hynman and Ray Musgrave
and a friend of Jamie's we were soon enjoying a few beers while we started
to unpack and repack all out gear for the trip..
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Ian, "plastic bag
man" soon had all his gear in a heap ready to see if it would all
fit in his Greenlander sea kayak. We noticed a few luxury items creeping
in, like olives.
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Next
morning, watched by a relatively large crowd of people, we floated our
loaded kayaks down the river to the sea. Weather conditions weren't
brilliant but we were eager to get away.
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Soon we had all sails
up and headed south down the prom towards Wattle Island. The wind assisted
us but as we rounded the point short steep irregular waves slowed us
down.
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We headed into Fenwicks
Bight hoping that we could land and stretch our legs. Unfortunately
the tide was high and the small beach underwater, so we sat in our kayaks
and had a quick drink and snack.
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Off
again we could now see the lighthouse on the tip of Wilsons Promontory.
The waves were quite large and with a following sea we surfed and sailed
along quite oblivious to the fact that a couple of days earlier some
NSW female paddlers had capsized here and had a few nervous moments
re entering kayaks befor heading back to Oberon Bay
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Ian managed to capsize just
after going around the point. Gusty down draughts caught him unawares.
He climbed back in unaided as were were all off infront scooting along
before the wind. A lesson in group management that we were to become aware
of again later on in the trip.
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Finally we cruised into
Little Waterloo Bay to meet up with John and Ray who had walked over
from Tidal River.
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